


The Bird Whisperer

by ArgentLives



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: (of a sort), Birds, F/F, Meet-Cute, Unintentional Kidnapping, slightly ridiculous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7746754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentLives/pseuds/ArgentLives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unconventional meet-cute in which Kendra accidentally kidnaps Sara’s pet canary, and said canary unintentionally sets the two of them up. It makes sense. Mostly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bird Whisperer

**Author's Note:**

> a million years ago hedgi gave me the au idea that “Kendra’s hawkgirl powers cause birds to just. flock to her. so Laurel or Linda spots her in the park basically covered in sparrows and is like ‘how are you even doing that what.’” so i finally got around to writing that; it’s Sara/Kendra though bc i love this pairing

“LAUREL!” a frantic voice filters through the door, followed by some even more frantic knocking. “LAUREL OPEN THE DOOR!”

“G’waaay,” Laurel mumbles, rolling over in bed and clutching her pillow over her head, covering her ears with it as Sara continues to shout. It’s a fucking _Saturday_ —there’s not a thing in the world she would leave the cozy confines of her sheets for, unless maybe if the house was burning down. Which it’s not. She’s just got a spectacularly annoying little sister with a ridiculously strong pair of lungs and no concept of time or consideration for others.

“LAU- _REEEEL_ ,” Sara whines, and there’s a thump against the door that sounds suspiciously like a kick, and not for the first time Laurel is infinitely grateful that she sleeps with the door locked. “IF YOU DON’T OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT THIS INSTANT I’M BREAKING IT DOWN.”

“SARA, GO. _AWAY,_ ” she grits out, lifting her head up from where her face is pressed into the mattress and tilting it to the side just so she can shout back. She peeks an eye open and catches a glimpse of the time on the clock that’s blinking obnoxiously back at her from her nightstand, and curses to herself and then at Sara when she realizes it’s barely even 7:30.

She’s just about to pull the covers up over her head and hide until Sara relents and leaves her alone when a loud bang echoes through her room, making her heart leap up in her throat, and she throws the sheets off her in alarm as Sara stalks toward her bed with a scowl on her face; one that’s not nearly as effective as usual because it’s clearly overshadowed by panic.

“Sara, _what did you do to my door,_ ” Laurel growls, propping herself up on her elbows, as Sara flops down ceremoniously at the edge of her bed, her unhappy expression faltering to something that’s almost sheepish for half-a-second as her gaze flickers to the door that’s now hanging off its hinges and then back to Laurel again.

“Well, you weren’t opening it!” Sara defends stubbornly, spreading her hands out like it’s obvious, before wrinkling her nose up with a reluctantly guilty expression. “Look, I’ll pay for it, or fix it myself, whatever, it’s just—we have an emergency.”

Laurel feels a familiar pang of concern in her chest, but it ebbs relatively quickly as her gaze sweeps Sara up and down and confirms that she doesn’t appear to be hurt anywhere. Instead, she glares at her, and Sara glares right back, until finally she relents and breaks the tense silence between them. “What could possibly be so important that you’re up and shouting and _breaking things_ this early in the fucking morning?” Laurel groans, throwing her pillow in Sara’s general direction, which Sara easily dodges. Once again, she finds herself wondering why she ever thought it’d be a good idea to let her ridiculously persistent ex-assassin little sister move in and share her flat.

“Tweety is missing.” The scowl is gone from Sara’s face now, her eyes wide and earnest,

Tweety. Sara’s noisy little yellow pet canary. Right. Sara’s shoulders slump, a miserable frown twisting her lips, and Laurel feels some of her annoyance being replaced by sympathy, because she does hate to see her sister upset, and she’s nothing if not protective.

“Okay,” Laurel pushes her weight off her elbows and sits up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, squinting blearily at her sister. She understands why she’d be upset about this, and she can sympathize and all, but Tweety isn’t really her problem, especially at 7:30 on a Saturday morning after yet another week from hell at work.

“Yeah, okay. Well, Slyvester is missing too,” Sara adds with a huff, a knowing glint in her eye as she studies Laurel’s face for her reaction, which—not okay. That’s _her_ bird—the little black canary she got just a month after Sara got hers, finally relenting after Sara had pestered her for weeks about Tweety being lonely. She’d be lying if she said the little shit hadn’t grown on her.

“Okay,” Laurel says, running a tired hand down her face and throwing her sheets off. “Okay, fine, just—get out so I can get dressed, at least. Give me fifteen minutes.”

* * *

They don’t have to go far, luckily. They rally to the nearby park with a stack full of “missing bird” flyers tucked under each of their arms, fully prepared to hang them up on every tree and every light post, but it’s just after Sara’s tacking her fifth flyer out of fifty to a nearby bench that she sees it. She doesn’t say anything, just stares, and hears Laurel come up behind her, no doubt wondering why she suddenly stopped. She can feel the moment Laurel sees it too.

“No,” Laurel holds her hands up, shaking her head and backing slowly away. “Nope. Nooo. It’s too early for this.”

“Where are you going?” Sara makes a face at her, gaze flickering between the crazy bird lady and her sister.

“I need coffee. I’ll get you something to go. Just…see if you can talk to our friend over there. I’m not awake enough to deal with this shit.”

She turns on her heel and stalks off, muttering something under her breath, and Sara is left staring at the lady who has her bird held hostage—along with at least twenty others. Some are perched on her shoulders or clinging to her arms, others land on the ground around her, like some fucking modern day Snow White. She startles a bit when she realizes the woman is staring right back.

Well, she’s actually dealt with weirder shit before, in the League. Like literally coming back from the dead. She can handle a bird lady. She swallows and starts towards the woman, walking in quick strides, eyes hard and expression menacing even though the woman has the nerve to smile at her as she approaches.

“Excuse me, that’s—”

Bird Lady doesn’t let her finish, having the gall to start walking towards her, closing the remaining distance between them. “Oh! Hi,” she says, and Sara can’t help but notice that Bird Lady is actually _really_ attractive. That train of thought is abruptly derailed, though, by the fucking pigeon that lands on the woman’s head two seconds later. “You must be Sara? I’m Kendra. Kendra Saunders.”

Sara just stares, torn between ogling the pigeon on the woman’s head or getting lost in the freckles spattered of the bridge of her nose which are, frankly, unfairly adorable. “How did you know my name?”

“That’s, ah—that’s a good question,” Bird Lady—Kendra?—responds, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “And a long story, kind of, do you—maybe want to sit down? You’re probably going to want to sit down.”

Sara nods, and lets the bird thief lead the way.

“So,” she says once they’ve found a bench to sit on, narrowing her eyes. “Kendra. How do you know my name?” Kendra shifts uncomfortably under Sara’s gaze, staring at the familiar little yellow canary cradled in her hands as though it’ll explain it all for her. The familiar little yellow canary that’s _Sara’s_. Hmph. “Also, you have my bird.”

“Yeah, about that,” Kendra sighs, stroking Tweety’s feathers before finally looking up to meet Sara’s gaze, expression apologetic.  “I know. That I have your bird, that is, uh, because…that’s also how I know your name?”

And the only thing that Sara finds she can respond to that with is, “What.”

“Your name, uh,” Kendra grins at her, shy and sweet and a little embarrassed. “Tweety told me that. She thinks very highly of you, by the way.”

Sara blinks, taking a moment to process that. Just then, Slyvester lands on Kendra’s shoulder, chirping happily, a sound that has Kendra nodding as if she understands. And—oh. Holy shit. What even— “You can talk to birds…” Sara says slowly, piecing it together, finally getting a grasp on what Kendra is trying to say.

“Yeah,” Kendra says, sounding apologetic again. Sara takes in a deep breath, lets it out, and leans forward, hoping to put Kendra a little more at ease, because it’s painfully obvious that the poor woman doesn’t expect Sara to believe her. It’s written all of her face, her body language, and—well. Weirdly enough, Sara does believe her. There’s no need for Cute-Bird-Lady to be so tense, other than her supposed bird-napping.

“Okay. Alright,” Sara nods, reasonable, and can’t help but smile at the surprise in Kendra’s expression at having her accept it just like that. But she’s not completely off the hook yet. “How?”

Kendra bites her lip—which, unfair—and meets Sara’s gaze with palpable hesitance, clearly debating whether to be honest or not. Something she finds in Sara’s expression, curious but not judging, must reassure her, because she sits up a little straighter and gives Sara a shaky grin. “Well. Would you believe me if I told you that I’m actually a reincarnated hawk goddess? And that I have these powers that let me, uh, communicate with birds,” Kendra says, and then adds, almost as an afterthought even though it has Sara reeling, “Oh, and fly.”

“Wow,” Sara whistles, “that’s…a lot.” And yet, as impossible as Kendra’s story seems, Sara’s been trained in the League to be able to spot a lie from a mile away. And Kendra’s not lying. “I guess I can’t really judge when it comes to reincarnation,” she adds thoughtfully, reaching over to stroke Tweety’s feathers, smiling a little when Kendra jumps as Sara’s fingers _totally unintentionally_ brush against the palm of her hand. “I did come back from the dead, after all.”

“Oh!” Kendra’s eyes go wide, looking torn between shock at the casualness with which Sara says this and gratefulness that she believes her in the first place. “I’m sorry?”

“‘S okay,” Sara waves her off, even though it kind of was and is still a big deal. But she’s definitely not going to get into that right now. “It’s in the past.”

“Okay,” Kendra says with a frown, searching Sara’s face with a little crease of concern between her eyebrows. It’s clear she’s debating whether or not to ask further, so Sara makes the decision for her. Before Kendra can dwell on the subject any longer, Sara points to Tweety, raising an eyebrow at Kendra in question.

“So, these powers,” she says, and Tweety hops from Kendra’s palm onto Sara’s outstretched finger. She has to hold back a sigh of relief—she’d been worried she was being replaced as Tweety’s favorite person. “You use them to steal random people’s birds?”

Kendra shifts uncomfortably, staring at her her recently vacated hands. “Well, no. I also didn’t ask for all of this,” Kendra makes a sweeping gesture with her arm, causing some of the birds in the immediate vicinity to flutter away. “But I haven’t exactly…figured out how to control it yet. They leave me alone indoors but as soon as I step outside, I have birds following me around everywhere. Seriously, I just moved here and it’s really hard to meet new people when they’re afraid to go near you.”

“Huh.” Sara frowns, feeling sympathy bubble up in her chest. Kendra seems nice, and after all, the bird-napping was unintentional. That’s probably what motivates her to pat Kendra’s shoulder consolingly, and offer to show her around town. Definitely not the fact that she really wants to see that toothy smile again, nope. No ulterior motives here.

“I would love that,” Kendra says to Sara’s offer, and hallelujah, the smile’s back. “But I really don’t freak you out? The bird thing doesn’t bother you?”

“Nah,” Sara waves her off, “as long as you give me Slyvester back and let me know if Tweety ever sneaks out to pay you a visit again, we’re cool.”

“Yeah…sorry about that.” She hands over Slvyester with minimal fuss, a fond little smile on her lips as the bird perches next to Tweety on Sara’s finger. “Let me make it up to you. Coffee? On me? I just started working at Jitters, actually, so I’m headed there soon anyway for my shift.”

Briefly, Sara remembers Laurel’s already picking up coffee for her, but figures her sister won’t mind that coffee going cold if she goes with Kendra instead as long as she’s got their birds back. Besides, Kendra looks so earnest and cute and just a touch nervous, waiting for her response, and something about her expression tells Sara that she might just mean it in the way Sara hopes she does. It’s been awhile since Sara’s been on a date and despite all her League training and for all her strength, she’s always been weak around cute girls, so why the hell not.

“I’d like that,” Sara says with a smile of her own, echoing Kendra’s words for earlier.  Kendra beams at her and the birds around them chirp happily in support as they make their way off the bench and towards new possibilities. And Kendra hadn’t been joking—the birds do follow them through the park, but that’s okay. Their arms brush together a bit as they walk, and Kendra shoots her a shy smile that Sara enthusiastically returns.

Her canary flies in circles around them, chirping away, and Kendra laughs.

“What?” Sara asks, and the skin around Kendra’s eyes crinkle with her smile. It’s the most adorable thing Sara’s seen in a while.

Kendra just shakes her head, laughing again when Tweety lands on her shoulder and chirps something in her ear. “Nothing, it’s just—Tweety approves.”


End file.
